Many developing countries are resource-constrained and often have poorly maintained road infrastructure. In those places, there are many uncomfortably rough roads—e.g., unpaved (earth road), poorly paved (e.g. ballast pavement), slightly paved—and many small bumps or cracks due to poor maintenance. Such road may be more than uncomfortable—in some cases they may be damaging to the vehicle or even dangerous to traverse.
Existing navigation systems provide recommended routes between geo-locations, typically based on route distance, and/or historical or real-time traffic data. Some existing navigation systems can help drivers avoid hazards. In all such systems the decision is left to the driver whether to take or not take a route. In many instances this is not practical in developing countries, as the information may be incomplete, or the driver may not be able to adequate analyze the choices while simultaneously considering contextual information such as weather, etc. Furthermore, a driver often desires but is unable to estimate the cost (in terms of time, wear on the car, riskiness of the route, etc.) of selecting one route over another route.